I am becoming the ultimate demon.

Chapter 19: The Shadow of the Huai River, In-Depth Investigation; Mermaid Monster, Second Demonic Fo

"Young Master Ji, I saw a monster in the Huai River this morning!!" A man dressed in a straw raincoat, wearing a bamboo hat, and holding a harpoon shouted frantically at the entrance of the Ji residence.

Ji Lin rushed to the door and said, "Tell me in detail!"

"I made breakfast for my family this morning and took some sweet potatoes with me when I left..."

The fisherman's explanation was somewhat disjointed, and it took him a while to clarify what had happened.

The gist of it is that while fishing on the upper reaches of the Huai River, he saw a "moving hill" in the mist in the middle of the river, accompanied by the sound of dragging iron chains...

Upon hearing this, Ji Lin realized it matched perfectly; it matched the case described in the file.

Then he said to Yun Cui beside him, "Tell the accountant to reward him with ten taels of gold."

"Young master, shouldn't we verify the situation first?" Yun Cui asked, puzzled.

"No need, let's get ready and leave immediately."

Ji Lin decided to personally explore along the tributaries of the Huai River.

He took Liu Qingmei and Tang Wu, both functional awakeners, along with Yun Cui, and set off together.

He told the people in the manor that he was going out to "relax and visit friends," and Huang Yu temporarily took over the management of the night patrol.

So the group went to the banks of the Huai River, hired a small boat, and went upstream.

The fog on the river was much thicker than usual, with visibility less than two meters. Some fishermen could be vaguely seen casting their nets.

As you travel upstream, you see a desolate landscape, with villages mostly empty and some stiff corpses left unburied, like ice sculptures abandoned on the shore.

"There's something up ahead!" Liu Qingmei pointed to a spot on the shore.

"Let's go take a look," Ji Lin gestured to the boatman to dock.

The group arrived at an abandoned fishing village. Most of the houses in the village had collapsed, and it was deserted.

There were also some abandoned and dilapidated fishing boats and old fishing nets, lying around haphazardly.

Further on, they discovered a huge, unnaturally formed drag mark, which looked more like some kind of creature than a ship.

The surface was covered with a layer of foul-smelling, dark green slime, which basically confirms that this is no ordinary creature.

"Boss, based on our experience from this investigation, these are traces of an abnormal creature," Tang Wu said.

"It's most likely the river monster the fisherman was talking about, but the size doesn't match up, because he said it was a moving hill... This doesn't seem like it at all, does it?" Liu Qingmei said doubtfully.

"That only means there might be more than one monster."

Ji Lin carefully observed the mark, which was about two meters wide, and the actual size of the body was only one or two meters, which did not match the description of "small mountain".

"Let's set up camp here first. Get some food, and see what happens tonight." He said gravely.

That night, darkness gradually fell.

The river wind swept by, carrying heavy snow, and was icy cold, yet there was still no sign of the Huai River water freezing.

The group set up a simple tent, gathered dry branches and rotten boat planks, piled them together, and started a fire.

"Young master, I forgot to bring food..." Yun Cui smiled awkwardly.

"This is easy, watch me!" Liu Qingmei walked to the riverbank.

Seeing this, Tang Wu followed.

They used their skills to spearfish in the river, catching more than a dozen Huai River fish in a row.

Then skewer them on sticks, roast them next to the fire, sprinkle with some salt, and they smell delicious.

"Indeed, bringing you guys along was the right thing to do!" Ji Lin exclaimed, munching on his grilled fish.

As soon as he finished speaking, a dark shadow suddenly crawled up from the riverbank and moved quickly. As it got closer, its outline grew larger and larger.

Everyone was taken aback and immediately became alert.

"There's something here!" Liu Qingmei exclaimed in surprise.

The dark figure threw a harpoon-shaped object that flew over, pointing directly at Ji Lin.

Liu Qingmei conjured a block of ice more than a foot wide in her hand and pushed it forcefully.

"Snapped!"

The ice block struck the harpoon and immediately shattered into ice shards, scattering across the ground.

The harpoon veered off course and plunged into the ground.

Upon closer inspection, the harpoon was white and its material appeared to be pieced together from the bones of some kind of animal.

As the dark figure approached the edge of the firelight, the group gradually came to see the creature's appearance.

It was half human and half fish, yes, a mermaid; not half fish on the left and half human on the right; nor was it fish on top and human on the bottom.

It has a human body on top and a fish tail on the bottom; it is a typical mermaid.

The mermaid had a ferocious face, empty eyes, and dark green scales on its tail and back. A row of bone spurs grew from its head to its tail, and from the back of its hands to its shoulders. Its fingers were connected by skin like duck feet, and its five fingers had two-inch-long, very sharp nails.

Its crawling speed on the ground is no slower than that of a Grandmaster.

Tang Wu immediately used [Demonic Appearance - Entanglement], sending out more than a dozen thick strips in an attempt to bind it.

"Ah!!!" It let out a sharp cry and struggled, tearing all the thick strips apart immediately.

System prompt:

[Disaster Servant: Mermaid]

[Level: Intermediate Tribulation]

[Skills: Bone Spike Projectile, Tear]

Ji Lin was taken aback. It was actually a calamity of the calamity level. It was probably not easy to deal with. Moreover, it was only a servant. Wouldn't the monster in the river be even more powerful?

"Yun Cui, hide quickly!" he shouted, instantly transforming into a demonic form.

Liu Qingmei stood to the side, constantly sending ice spikes she conjured flying towards the mermaid.

The ice spikes struck the monster's body, scraping off pieces of fish scales that scattered on the ground, and dark green blood slowly seeped out.

While the two of them were distracting the mermaid monster, Ji Lin quietly disappeared into the darkness.

He then activated the skill [Demon Appearance - Shadow Strike].

His figure instantly closed in behind it, his right hand transforming into a sharp spike, aiming to pierce the monster's core.

"Pfft!"

When the palm was inserted, a bunch of scales exploded and a hole appeared, with dark green liquid splashing out.

He pulled his hand away, but there was nothing there. Strange! The core was gone?

Almost simultaneously, the monster cried out in pain, let out another scream, and swung its claws back at the monster with lightning speed.

He dodged quickly.

Unexpectedly, the mermaid monster was also quite fast, sticking close to Ji Lin's figure and frantically attacking with its claws, clearly enraged.

Ji Lin tried to confuse it with [Calamity - Water Illusion], but the monster woke up in just 0.1 seconds.

Liu Qingmei and Tang Wu kept attacking, and thick black bars and ice spikes pierced through its fish tail and plunged into the ground, tightly restricting the monster's movements, which allowed Ji Lin to successfully escape.

The merman monster then turned and ran quickly into the river.

"Oh no, he's trying to escape! Boss." Tang Wu continued his attack, using the black bar to hold him back.

Liu Qingmei also used her ice spikes to pin down its fish tail, slowing it down.

At this moment, Ji Lin stood there stunned. If he used the Demonic Shadow Strike, the same method would probably not work. He had to find the core.

He thought for a moment, looking at the spikes and harpoons on its body, and suddenly the word "bones" came to mind.

Perhaps the key lies in the bones; the core of this mermaid monster is not hidden in its flesh, but in the central spine.

He decided to try and see if he could destroy its spine.

He then used his skill again, his figure flashing behind the monster, the spikes in his hand aimed at a certain vertebra where the core was located.

"Poke!!" It felt like his right hand had struck steel; it could only leave shallow wounds and couldn't break the bone.

It failed again.

Just as he was about to break free, the spikes on the mermaid monster's back suddenly shot out with a "whoosh," like a mechanism.

With another flick of its tail, it sent him flying more than two zhang away.

Ji Lin was stabbed three times: one in the shoulder, one in the abdomen, and one in the thigh; each of them was more than a foot long, with nearly half of it inside his body.

Another one flew past his ear, nearly hitting his face.

"Boss!! Damn it!"

"Young master!!! Are you alright?!"

"Don't worry, he won't die. Let's stop that monster!"

The other three were shocked to see this, never expecting that the monster had such a special move.

Liu Qingmei and Tang Wu continued to make moves, desperately trying to stop the monster that was running towards Ji Lin.

The mermaid screamed and struggled, getting closer and closer to Ji Lin. Her escape was a ruse; her real intention was to launch a counterattack.

He endured the excruciating pain as he pulled out the bone spurs one by one, casually tossing them aside. Staring at the black liquid still clinging to them, a wave of terror washed over him, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

Although there is still the [Life Reshaping] trump card to save lives, no one wants to easily experience the taste of death, and the price to pay is a full 20 points of constitution, which is hard to accept from the bottom of their heart.

What's even more terrifying is that during this reshaping period, the three players on the field may very well have been killed by it.

Therefore, he absolutely has every reason to take another gamble.

"Miss Liu, Xiao Hei, please hold out for me a little longer, please."

After he finished speaking, he began to concentrate all the power of the fused demonic blood into his right arm.

Then the demonized body on his body slowly faded away, flowing gently towards his right hand.

His entire arm was trembling, veins were bulging, and the blood in his body was being squeezed wildly. He felt his right hand was burning hot, and power was surging through him, as if it would explode at any moment.

At this moment, the system issued a notification that the strength increased from 35 to 95, a full 60 points, while the agility decreased from 70 after fusing with the demon blood to the original 50.

In other words, the attack bonus of [Shadow Strike] has increased from 105 points to 145 points.

Ji Lin silently recited in his mind, "Activate the skill; victory or defeat hinges on this moment."

He teleported behind the merman monster, plunged the giant arm into its back again, and attacked its core.

"Pfft! Smack!!"

As the dark green slime gushed out, it finally snapped its iron-hard spine, destroying that damned core along with it.

The merman monster collapsed to the ground and remained motionless.

【Ding! 】

[Anomaly +2]

[Mermaid monster remains detected. Should we consume them?]

"Yes."

[Successfully devoured the remains of the mermaid monster, Constitution +4]

[Anomaly: 3]

[Constitution: 43/50]

[System function unlocked; advanced target information can now be viewed.]

This monster actually provided a total of 6 attribute points, which is not bad.

Can I view advanced target information? He looked into the river, but it still showed "???", and his face immediately turned pale.

What level is above "advanced"? This monster is truly formidable.

No wonder even the servants are so capable.

Thinking about it carefully, the mermaid monster might not have a core at all. If its spine is destroyed, it's no different from being dead.

After he devoured the merman's corpse, his wounds had healed.

"Quick, let me see your injuries!" Yun Cui rushed over, examining the holes in his clothes, almost bursting into tears.

"It's alright, it's alright." Ji Lin smiled and patted her head.

"Tsk tsk tsk, it's all better now." Liu Qingmei had a half-smile on her face.

Tang Wu silently watched the three of them from the side.

"Anyway, we finally got this thing." Liu Qingmei breathed a sigh of relief.

"The little monster has been killed, but the big monster is still in the river," Ji Lin said worriedly.

It has now been confirmed that the "moving hill" in the river is a high-level calamity creature. Killing its servants has had no effect whatsoever, perhaps because it is still dormant for some reason, or perhaps it has been sealed away.

In short, I hope it won't wake up until I have enough power.

He looked at his arm, which was still turning black even after the demonic transformation had faded, and his consciousness suddenly became a little blurry...